In my TFL1 course this week we had the rare opportunity to talk with, among other people, the Principal of the middle school where our class meets. He told us that the greatest challenge teachers face is constantly adjusting to meet the needs of all of the different students in their classes. The ability to do this does not come naturally - it requires major preparation, and even seasoned master teachers who have more experience and isight will continue to try to accommodate all of their students throughout their careers. He was kind enough to share many of the things he looks for when interviewing candidates for teaching positions within the school. A huge deciding factor for him was what he called the "big three" factors in lesson planning and alignment: 1) Goal; 2) Activity; 3) Closure. I'll summarize his description for those of you who are in different TFL sections.
1) GOAL - Lesson plans must have a specific, measurable learning objective, articulated clearly to students.
2) ACTIVITY - Engaging learning activities that keep students focused, make sure students know why you are having them do the particular activity. If you don't know why you included an activity, it is meaningless (and should be omitted from lesson!)
3) CLOSURE - Always, always, always effectively close the lesson and align it to the goal.
Now that we are approaching the end of this semester, lesson planning and assessment are definitely starting to come together for me. Alignment is a huge percentage of a unit's success. But what actually caught my attention was the principal's discussion about activities. Art lessons can have any number of engaging activities, and through CURR-316 we are asked to find meaningful ways to incorporate technology to support learning objectives. Believe me, I have found some really incredible technologies that will have applications in the art classroom. However, the selection of any learning activity must make sense to the students - they must be able to understand why that activity or technology is helping them reach their learning goal. In short, listening to this principal speak gave me the motivation to make sure the activities I build into my lesson plans are always meaningful, whether or not they happen to incorporate technology. It was a welcome and relevant reminder that in the end, we must both set and plan how to achieve the goal!
Laura,
ReplyDeleteYour post was really enlightening. The advice that he gave to you IS essential. I can see that being extremely important to know and know well once we are all out in the world educating and being interviewed and assessed for our positions. CURR 316 has also helped me redefine Language Arts and the integration of various technologies in my own terms because I was unaware that so many things could be incorporated to a lesson to transform it. These aids can transform my teaching into something meaningful that students will walk away with when the bell rings. I look forward to my TFL classes next semester because as great as these preparation classes are, once I am in the field, the application is essential to know if something is effective while teaching. I can plan ahead for ages, but without applying something physically, I may never know how effective it has been for myself and for my future students. Great post(: